Rooting Interests: Can Raptors Do It Again?

Friday, April 12, 2013

By Jaryd Wilson

The Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Tuesday. Can they pull off the upset twice in one week?

Doing so would help the Hawks’ cause for the five seed. Chicago currently sits a half game ahead of Atlanta but also owns the tiebreaker, so you could look at that lead as 1.5 games for the purposes of seeding. If I know Chicago, they’ll be ready for Toronto tonight. The Hawks, meanwhile, have a tough task in trying to sweep the Milwaukee Bucks tonight. Atlanta has won the first three games, but all three have been competitive. Should the Hawks win and the Bulls lose, Atlanta will own the five spot in the standings (but again, Chicago would still control its own destiny for that spot).

While the top four look to be set in the East, an intriguing matchup still takes place in Indianapolis tonight when the Brooklyn Nets visit the Indiana Pacers. Brooklyn is coming off a huge road win against the Boston Celtics, while Indiana came from 20 down to beat Cleveland last time out. There’s not a huge preference for Hawks fans here, though if the destination of the first game of the postseason is indeed Indiana, why not have Brooklyn win just to keep the Pacers from gaining momentum?

The Celtics meanwhile, are in Miami to face the Heat. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are all playing, so the Heat are the favorites here. Boston still has a long-shot to get the six seed, though those dreams could be officially dashed tonight if they lose and Atlanta wins. We’ll root for Miami either way, because any distance is good distance.